Teaching your teenage daughter to shop for clothes on a budget

While some parents are dealing with buying school uniforms, there's a whole set of moms and dads getting ready to face an entirely different adventure: back-to-school clothes shopping with their teens. I can't even imagine since I was a private school gal who wore a uniform for four years.

I wanted to highlight a post by Shine user Lily, whose daughter is gearing up for her freshman year in high school. Lily's daughter needed some clothes but mom has one problem: she's short on cash. So Lily took a few steps to ensure that she get the clothes necessary while one, staying on a tight budget and two, involving her daughter in the process.

You can read Lily's full post here (and her personal blog Broke in America). But here are the key tips that I believe are super helpful if you're about to embark on teaching your daughter, or son for that matter, how to shop for clothes on a budget:

• Do your homework. Find out which stores are having sales and check your local newspapers for coupons.

• Remember old, unused gift cards. Lily happened to have a $50 giftcard for the same store that was having a huge sale. A perfect way to score on deals.

• Set financial boundaries (otherwise known as a tight budget). Be crystal clear with your kid about how much can be spend on clothes. Bring a calculator along to add up picks along the way.

• Before the shopping expedition, involve your teen in deciding what clothing items to focus on. What items needs to be replaced or accessorized?

• Set shopping boundaries. If you can only shop at one store because that's where you have a gift card and coupon, so be it. Lily also told her daughter that she needed to try on the outfits before they were purchased so they wouldn't have to waste time, gas and money on returns.

The store of choice -- after some serious due diligence and coupon clipping by mom -- was JCPenny. Lily's daughter had a budget of $110, which included a $50 giftcard and a coupon for the store. She ended up coming home with five adorable items and $14 left on the gift card.

What I enjoyed most about Lily's post is that even with all the preparation and boundaries, it sounds like mom and daughter truly had a good time. And really, shopping for clothes should always be about fun.

I emailed Lily to find out what her daughter ended up picking out. You can see it all by checking out the slide show and you can find them all online here:

1. Arizona favorite vee - fashion stripes

2. Arizona favorite vee - fashion solids

3. Underground Soul dark wash flare jean

4. Decree crochet-trim babydoll

5. Arizona rinsed denim flare jeans